State approves new access to Hobby Lobby from William Street

The Missouri Department of Transportation has agreed to developer Scott Rhodes' plan to add right-turn-in and right-turn-out access to the Hobby Lobby shopping area from William Street.

Rhodes said the entrance/exit will line up with the traffic lane which runs in front of the Hobby Lobby store in Cape Girardeau.

"We will have to adjust some parking," he said.

The new access from William Street will include the addition of a right-turn lane for those motorists seeking to enter the shopping area, MoDOT Southeast District traffic engineer Craig Compas said.

The additional lane, which the developer will pay for, will keep turning motorists from "disrupting traffic" on William Street, Compas said.

MoDOT rejected a proposal by Rhodes to close all three existing South Kingshighway entrances to the site and replace them with a signalized entrance directly across from Good Hope Street.

Compas said the proposed signalized entrance would have been too close to the busy William and Kingshighway, signalized intersection.

"Traffic backs up through that location now," he said.

Rhodes said MoDOT has agreed with his plans to close the northernmost South Kingshighway entrance to the shopping area, which is only a short distance from the William Street and Kingshighway intersection.

City engineer Casey Brunke welcomed the idea.

"It is kind of a dangerous place for someone to pull in," she said of that entrance.

Compas, the MoDOT traffic engineer, said the highway department does not want additional access points along South Kingshighway.

The remaining two access points to the shopping center would remain, although they could be relocated slightly to accommodate the development, Compas said.

Any traffic changes require MoDOT approval because South Kingshighway and William Street west from Kingshighway are state-maintained routes, Compas said.

Agreement upon the traffic changes occurred late last week at a meeting in Cape Girardeau involving Rhodes and officials with MoDOT and the city of Cape Girardeau.

City planner Ryan Shrimplin previously said traffic issues needed to be addressed before the City Council could rezone the shopping area for a planned development.

City staff still must review a traffic analysis submitted by Koehler Engineering on behalf of Rhodes Development Co. and South K Inc.

In addition, Rhodes must submit a revised development plan to city staff and MoDOT.

City engineer Casey Brunke, who attended Thursday's meeting, said she expects the review to be completed in time for the council to vote on Rhodes' rezoning request at the April 17 meeting.

"We are looking forward to the project moving forward," she said.

Rhodes also expressed optimism the project could proceed.

"It was encouraging," he said. "I think we are all going in the same direction."

The planned development district would be anchored around the Hobby Lobby store.

The council has held three public hearings since March 6 to rezone the property from highway commercial to planned development district.

But each time, the hearing has been continued to allow development issues to be addressed.

Rhodes and city officials said a planned development allows developers to propose improvements that involve exceptions to the city code.

In this case, the issue is parking. The proposed improvements would result in fewer parking spaces than required by city code.

City planning staff has approved the parking exception, Shrimplin, the city planner, said.

Development plans submitted to the city call for demolishing old commercial buildings on the site except for Hobby Lobby, adding new commercial space and reconfiguring the parking.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641